Black Bart and Blackbeard (Assassin’s Creed IV, McFarlane Toys): I picked up these two figures as holiday gifts for a relative who’s really into Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag game (I haven’t played any of the Assassin’s Creed games myself). It’s been over a decade since I really paid attention to what McFarlane Toys has been doing, so I don’t know if these represent the kind of work the company is consistently capable of now, but I’m real impressed with the sculpting on these two figures. Even if it turns out that these were made using the files from the game, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the figures look very, very good for the scale (offhand, it’s something like 1:15). Articulation could be better, but it’s sufficient for simple, looking-cool-on-the-video-games-shelf standing poses. They also come with some bonus in-game content for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag players.

Left: Black Bart; right: Blackbeard [As if you needed us to tell you that–ed.]

Data-Viper (G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Hasbro): I like the classic G.I. Joe characters as much as the next guy, but at this point, after multiple 25th Anniversary and 30th Anniversary-inspired rehashes and “reimaginings” of decades-old designs, I’m ready to see something new from the guys at Pawtucket (and I’m not talking about the movie costume-inspired figures). The Data-Viper delivers that. It isn’t just a “guy with a gun” toy soldier—the inclusion of a drone and the design’s remote warfare conceit make it a distinctly 21st century addition to the toyline.

This one is a tie between the Transformers: Generations Trailcutter (Hasbro) and G.I. Joe: Retaliation “Ultimate” Cobra Commander (Hasbro). They’re both great toys and near perfect representations of their characters. G.I. Joe: Retaliation Kwinn (Hasbro) gets an honorable mention for nostalgia’s sake.